The mirror of erised
by sinful starlet
Summary: part 7 up - the end! Hermione finally gets the courage to tell Ron the truth, but how will he react?
1. Default Chapter

****

The mirror of erised

By Sinful Starlet

Rating: PG probably - maybe PG-13 but that's pushing it.

Disclaimer: Not JK Rowling (though I wish I was) so clearly not mine.

Summary: Some time during their later school career, Harry and his friends come across the mirror of erased again with some surprising results!

Blurb: Okay, so this is set when Harry and the others are all sixteen or so, and I should probably add this is gonna be a RW/HG story (primarily anyway). It's also my first Harry Potter story so be kind - please! *SS* 

__

Introduction

Hermione smiled as Neville yawned his way through breakfast that morning in the Great Hall. She put down the piece of toast she had been eating and asked, "Are you alright Neville?" "Wha---?", Neville started, before breaking off into another large yawn, making Seamus and Dean laugh at him. "Have you been having trouble sleeping or something?", Hermione asked gently, ignoring Seamus and Dean and still smiling kindly at Neville. "Well, uh...", Neville started, though he looked down a little as he suppressed another yawn, unfortunately missing the looks of the two boys sitting opposite him. 

From her position sitting between them, Hermione couldn't see the looks Harry and Ron were shooting at Neville any better than Neville could, and by the time Neville did look up, it was a little late. "It's not my fault", he began again, "blame those two - they keep--". He had looked up then, and saw Ron looking like he was about to put the worst hex he could think of on him, so he stopped talking very quickly. "These two what?", Hermione questioned again, realising that it was Harry and Ron that Neville was talking about, though thankfully missing Ron's evil look.

"We keep waking him up when we're talking about Quidditch", Harry said quickly. "Yeah, sorry about that Neville", Ron said too, backing up Harry's story. Hermione looked at both of them a little suspiciously, but at that moment, Fred and George came to join them, and to Harry and Ron's relief, she didn't say anything else about it for the time being. Of course, that wasn't likely to last very long though, and in fact, as soon as she had left the Great Hall with her two best friends, she took the opportunity to ask them what was going on. 

As it was a Saturday morning, and a fairly sunny Saturday morning at the end of May, most of the school were either out in the grounds or visiting Hogsmeade that day. Though, being sixth years themselves, Harry, Ron and Hermione were all allowed to visit Hogsmeade, they had all decided not to go this time, asking Fred and George to bring them back some sweets from Honeyduke's while they went to the library to research a particularly nasty potions essay Snape had set them that Wednesday.

Strictly speaking, they had another two weeks to finish the essay, but as it was getting closer to the end of term, Hermione had encouraged them to get to work on the assignment as soon as possible so they would have their time free to revise for end-of-year exams (Hermione) or get in extra Quidditch practices (Harry and Ron). The halls of the castle were, therefore, fairly deserted so Hermione knew she could safely talk to Harry and Ron without worrying about anyone interrupting them or overhearing what they were talking about.

"Ok", she said, as they rounded another corner, "so are you going to tell me what Neville was really going to say at breakfast, or do I have to go and get Snape's veritaserum?" Ron at least, tried to look outraged at what she was saying, and vehemently denied it immediately. This of course, started off another verbal battle between him and Hermione, one which Harry eventually interrupted before it could get too serious. 

"Alright, alright!", he said, a little louder than usual to make himself heard over the top of the other two. Ron shot Harry a quick look, but Harry shook his head, "It's ok, Ron". Ron didn't look entirely sure, but reluctantly reasoned that arguing any more with Hermione was probably pointless. "If you have to know...", Harry started again, though the look on Hermione's face was really the only answer he needed, "...Ron and I...", he hesitated again, not quite sure how to say what he was about to tell her, "...we found something".

"Something that you weren't supposed to?", Hermione supplied, her tone was questioning, but it was really more of a statement. After six years at school together, she could read both of the boys fairly accurately...well, at least she could most of the time. Harry glanced at Ron quickly, who just shrugged, there wasn't much point in not finishing the story now. "Alright", Harry said again, lowering his voice even though they were clearly the only people in that particular corridor, "...we found the mirror of erised again".

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Chapter One

Hermione's eyes widened in spite of herself. Harry and Ron had of course told her about the mirror in the first year when they had first found it, but since all the dealings with the Philosopher's Stone, the mirror had been moved again, and they had been unable to find it. Though they never said anything about it, Hermione had suspected several times throughout their school career that they must have gone looking for it at least once.

Though all of these thoughts ran through her head, what she eventually said was, "I thought you'd given up looking for it". Her tone had sounded a little more stern than she had meant it too, and she chastised herself for causing the look of guilt that flew across Harry's face. "I'm sorry Harry", she said quickly, encouraging them to keep walking as they had temporarily stopped as she questioned them before, "but I mean, you haven't mentioned it for years, and....I thought you'd given up on the idea of finding it".

"I had", Harry replied, looking a little happier, but still not completely himself, "well...", he paused again, seeing the slightly sarcastic look on Ron's face, "...well, I had for quite a long time, but after everything that happened during the Tri-Wizard tournament, especially after---". He trailed off and Ron looked a little angrily at Hermione for upsetting Harry. "Harry--", Hermione started in a much gentler voice but he cut her off. "No, it's ok Hermione - really", he went on, managing a smile, more to placate Ron than Hermione herself, "I tried not to think about it for a long time, but eventually I just...I needed to see my parents again, so I went looking for the mirror".

Hermione looked a little questioningly at Ron, who spoke at last, answering her, "Yeah, he went searching for it by himself". "I don't think he would have told even me if I hadn't caught him sneaking back into the dorms one night...think it was some time in February wasn't it?", he asked, looking to Harry who nodded. "Anyway", Ron went on, unconsciously running one hand through his flame-red hair, "I wasn't about to let him go running all over the castle at night on his own - so I started going with him".

"I thought I could at least cause a distraction if we ran into a teacher or something - I mean it's not like we've got the Marauder's Map anymore". Hermione nodded. The Marauder's Map had been an extremely useful tool on more than one occasion, but it had been taken by Mr Crouch's son while he had been masquerading as Mad-Eye Moody during their fourth year. When the truth about Crouch had been found out, Professor Dumbledore had taken over the office, sorting out all his possessions, and presumably the map, with them. In any case, they hadn't seen the map since, so they were forced to do without.

"Most of the time we manage to sneak back into the dorm fine", Ron said, "Seamus and Dean both sleep like logs, but Neville is a bit of a light-sleeper so we've woken him up a couple of times". "We've never told him what we were really sneaking out for, but he trusts us enough not to ask if we don't want to talk about it". "I'm sorry we didn't tell you", Harry said, smiling apologetically at Hermione, "but I wasn't sure you'd---". "You weren't sure I'd approve?", Hermione finished, with a smile of her own, prompting smiles from the other two, and proving her guess right.

"I know Dumbledore moved the mirror for a reason", Hermione said, by way of an answer to Harry's unspoken question, "it's very powerful in its own way, and I agree with him that it's not something you should become dependent on, but it doesn't exactly seem to be an obsession yet!" "Seriously Harry", she said, as their laughter abated a little, "you should be careful around it - I don't want it to have too much of an influence over you - but if you're only using it to see your parents - then I don't really see where the harm can be".

"See?", Ron said triumphantly, making Harry frown at him in moderate annoyance. "I knew you'd be okay with it", Ron said, by way of explanation. "Really?", Hermione said, quite touched by that, although she didn't really know why. "Yeah, you know me 'Mione", Ron said, with a slightly mischievous grin, as he held his hand over his heart and tried (failing miserably) to look sincere, "I have absolute faith in you!" Hermione playfully swatted him, though she couldn't help laughing along with Harry. 

They walked along in a comfortable silence for another few minutes, occasionally stopping to talk to friends they met along the way to the library. Ron stopped for a few minutes just as they reached the library doors to talk to Katie Bell, one of the Gryffindor Chasers, and the current captain since Oliver Wood and Angelina Johnson had left. Ron and Katie had become good friends since he had joined the team last year. With both Wood and Angelina leaving the same year, Katie had had two new players to find. 

Though Ron was disappointed on losing out on the position of keeper - which went instead to Jack Delaney, who was in the year below him - with Harry's prodding, he had tried out as a chaser, and made the team straight away. There were more than a few comments about favouritism since there were now three Weasley's on the Gryffindor team (when Ron was counted with Fred and George who were still the team's beaters), but as soon as they started winning, any objections seemed miraculously to fly out of the window.

As Katie, (like Fred and George) was in her seventh and final year at Hogwarts, she had stayed behind from Hogsmeade to study for her N.E.W.T.s, though she was now on her way back to Gryffindor tower to meet up with Alicia, her best friend and fellow chaser on the Quidditch team. Harry said his hellos to Katie but then disappeared into the library to find them a table to work at. Hermione hung around the door for a minute, though she wasn't entirely sure why. She could just as easily have waited for Ron inside, and there was also the fact that Harry was in the library on his own, but she just couldn't bring herself to leave Ron there with Katie. 

It wasn't that she didn't like Katie, in fact she was having a lot of trouble figuring out why she was reacting the way she was, so much so that she didn't actually realise that Katie had said her goodbyes and Ron was speaking to her again. "Hermione?", he asked, looking a little puzzled, breaking her momentary reverie. "What?", she said a little shortly, before she fully realised what had happened, "Oh, sorry Ron". "You alright?", he asked, with a trace of real concern in his voice, though his face still held a smile. "Fine", Hermione said quickly, managing a smile of her own, though she still wasn't entirely sure what she had been feeling just then, "come on - Harry'll be waiting for us". 


	2. Chapter two

****

The mirror of erased

By Sinful Starlet

Rating: PG probably - maybe PG-13 but that's pushing it.

Disclaimer: Not JK Rowling (though I wish I was) so clearly not mine.

Summary: Some time during their later school career, Harry and his friends come across the mirror of erised again with some surprising results!

Blurb: Okay, part two. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the first part. That was mainly just to set the scene so hopefully it should pick up a little more now, although I won't be hideously offended if you think it's still a little slow! Hope you enjoy it anyway! *SS* 

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Chapter Two

Harry looked at Hermione a little quizzically as she sat down at the table with him and Ron. She had a slightly odd expression on her face. What was it? The closest approximation Harry could manage was something between guilt and embarrassment, which didn't make any sense to him, though Ron clearly didn't understand either as he just shrugged as Harry shot him a quick, questioning look. Both of the boys were smart enough by now though to know when to let something go when they were with Hermione, so they just started pulling books off the shelves to research Ganderweed and its applications in modern day magic, as opposed to those of the earlier centuries.

Hermione said very little at first, though maintaining all the outward appearance of concentrating on the book she had propped in front of her, her mind was still working overtime, trying to rationalise what had happened outside the library just then. She caught Ron's gaze as she looked up at one point. He was smiling as usual, though there was still a feint look of concern in his eyes. Thankfully at that moment, Ginny Weasley walked into the library. She returned Harry's wave and also waved to Hermione as she looked up, but before she could come over to the table, Hermione got up to walk to meet her. She made her excuses to the two rather confused boys she left at the table and quickly hurried out of the library with Ginny in tow. 

She didn't really have much of a plan beyond getting out of the library for a few minutes, so she just suggested a walk around the grounds to Ginny, who was happy to go along. Harry stared after Hermione for a minute before he turned back to look at Ron, who was frowning as he struggled to make out a particularly confusing passage in one of the older books. "Is something up with Hermione?", Harry asked, after another minute had passed. "Dunno", said Ron, looking up and shrugging, "she had this really funny look on her face when she was standing outside the library, while I was talking to Katie - no idea why though". A sudden realisation hit Harry, and though he had no way of being sure, if he was right, it would certainly explain Hermione's strange behaviour.

Though Hermione and Ginny returned to the library about half an hour later, he didn't get much of a chance to test out his theory. Hermione seemed perfectly normal again, chatting quite happily with him and the others, laughing with Ginny when Ron managed to find another book with a screecher inside. A screecher was a book with a possessed text inside, that screeched and screamed as soon as it was opened, unless the correct charm was intoned before it was opened - like the book, in fact, that Harry found in the first year when he had been searching the restricted section of the library.

He did eventually manage to think of something though, and kept one eye on Hermione as he casually asked Ron, "So, what did Katie want to talk to you about?" Ron, as predicted, didn't seem to think anything of the question, though Harry did see something flash across Hermione's face. It was only there for an instant, but it was definitely there. "Oh, nothing much", Ron replied, as casually as Harry had asked the question, "just some more practices she was thinking of arranging - she was just checking whether we'd be able to make them - she hasn't fixed anything definite yet though".

Harry nodded, though once again, he cast a quick glance at Hermione, and whatever look had been there before seemed to have gone now, she looked relaxed and normal again. Well, Harry thought, that had been a fairly successful test. He didn't know whether to actually say anything to Ron about it, but he decided it was probably best to wait for a while, at least until he had talked to Hermione on her own about it first.

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Chapter Three

After lunch, they had all split up again. Ginny, waving a cheerful goodbye to Harry and the others went off with some of her friends who were back from Hogsmeade and Harry, Ron, and Hermione were left on their own again - managing to dodge Fred, George and the rest of their friends from Gryffindor. They decided to have a walk outside. They'd been sitting inside all morning, (except for Hermione who had gone out with Ginny earlier), and felt the need of some fresh air, so they all walked out together to visit Hagrid.

It was actually about three hours later when they finally left, Hagrid had insisted on making them an afternoon tea and playing a few rounds of exploding snap with them while they filled him in on their news. Hermione noticed that neither of the boys mentioned the mirror of erised, so she didn't either, but the fact that they didn't mention it was enough to bring it to the forefront of her mind again. She waited until they were almost back at the castle again before she mentioned it. Harry wasn't surprised that she wanted to see the mirror herself, though Ron seemed to be. They agreed to go that night, they would meet up in the common room at one o'clock in the morning and go down together.

***

Hermione shivered a little as she made her way down to the common room again that night, she had pulled on a jumper over her pyjamas but it was still a little cool. She managed to sneak out of the room without waking Parvati or Lavender, but she acknowledged with a smile, that wasn't really too difficult. The common room appeared to be deserted when she walked into it, and she wondered whether she'd beaten the boys to it. "Harry? Ron?", she called as quietly as she could, looking all around her, because she realised that they might have been hiding under the invisibility cloak. 

She walked round to the sofa nearest the fire and started to sit down, jumping up like a shot again though as the sofa gave a muffled grunt. She looked down at the sofa in surprise, though the mystery was explained seconds later as Harry pulled the invisibility cloak off him and Ron, who had been sitting side by side on that very sofa. She breathed a sigh of relief, and her face broke into a smile as she caught sight of Ron's yawning face. "Bloody hell 'Mione!", he managed between yawns, "You could have warned us!"

"What are you talking about?", Hermione asked, a little confused, "I called out your names and you didn't answer - I didn't think you were here yet". "We came down early", Harry said, by way of an explanation, "we must have dozed off again while we were sitting on the sofa". "Of course", Ron interjected, trying to conceal a teasing smile, "having you sit in his lap was a fairly effective way to wake Harry up!" Hermione was glad of the relative darkness of the room because she couldn't help it when her face coloured a little at what Ron had just said.

Harry, in the meantime, had a very sarcastic expression on his face, enough to stop Ron laughing anyway. Ron wiped the smile off his face and tried to look apologetic, but it wasn't really working. "Come on", Harry said in the end, standing up and gesturing for Ron to do the same, as he draped the invisibility cloak over his arm, "we better get going if we're going to go tonight". "Oh cheer up!", Ron said to Harry, apparently still quite amused, "You weren't offended were you, Hermione?", he asked, turning to her for support.

Though she was still feeling more than a little embarrassed, Hermione did manage to shake her head and smile back at Ron. "And anyway", Ron went on, clearly trying to lighten the mood, "it could have been worse". "What do you mean?", Hermione asked, sharing a confused look with Harry. "You could have ended up sitting on me!", Ron replied, still grinning, so infectiously in fact that Hermione and Harry couldn't help but laugh too. Ron did look a bit put out when Hermione kept laughing after the other two had stopped, and it took him a moment to realise what she was finding so funny.

The two boys were dressed like Hermione, with jumpers over their pyjamas, but while Harry's was just a plain emerald green (given to him by Mrs Weasley two Christmases ago) - Ron's was clearly one of his mother's more eccentric creations. It was navy in colour, rather than the traditional maroon (Molly had apparently realised at last that maroon really didn't go with Ron's violently red hair), and had a figure in Gryffindor Quidditch robes emblazoned across the front. Ron eventually realised that this what she was smiling at, and managed a look of annoyance, though he wasn't really angry, seeing the comedy of the situation himself. 

"Alright!", he said quietly, "Not all of us get to go shopping at The Hole over the holidays!" "The Gap!", Hermione shot back, though she was having a hard time trying not to laugh, knowing Ron was only calling it that to annoy her. "Come on you two!", Harry said, trying not to laugh himself, "We better get going before we wake someone up". They made their way over to the portrait hole, pushing it open and wedging a folded sheet of parchment into the doorway at the bottom so they could pull the 'door' open again without waking the Fat Lady. 

Once outside, Ron, being the tallest, threw the cloak over all three of them and together, they made their way down the corridor and several flights of stairs towards the first-floor room containing the mirror of erised. Harry snuck a look at Hermione as they walked along the corridor. She had a slightly nervous expression on her face, though whether that was because she was worried about them being caught or because of...something else, he wasn't sure.


	3. Chapter three

****

The mirror of erased

By Sinful Starlet

Rating: PG probably - maybe PG-13 but that's pushing it.

Disclaimer: Not JK Rowling (though I wish I was) so clearly not mine.

Summary: Some time during their later school career, Harry and his friends come across the mirror of erised again with some surprising results!

Blurb: Part three - main story starts here now. The mirror is revealed and Hermione gets her first view of it, though what she sees comes as something of a shock! *SS* 

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Chapter Four

Hermione was surprised when she got her first view of the mirror. It was nowhere near as ornate as she had expected it to be. There was no grand, bejewelled frame, just a rather worn looking plain gold one, with some strange letters inscribed in the top piece of the border. "Well?", she said, as she stood in front of it. So far all she could see was herself and the two boys on either side of her. "It only works if there's only one person standing in front of it", Harry said. 

"And then what?", Hermione asked, "It's supposed to show you whatever you desire?" "Basically", Ron said, "so when Harry stands in front of it, he sees his parents - that's why we keep coming back up here". Hermione nodded, smiling sympathetically to Harry while she took all this in. "And what about you?", she said at last, "What do you see Ron?" She didn't seem to notice, though Harry did, the slight look of concern that crossed Ron's face before he managed to answer, and then his answer came very quickly as if he was trying to conceal something. "I um...well it's silly in comparison to Harry's vision anyway", he said, avoiding Hermione's gaze while trying to look like he wasn't.

"Yes, but what was it?", Hermione asked, "Come on Ron, I'm not going to laugh!" She attempted the joke to try and lighten the situation, but Ron still looked a little uneasy to Harry. "Well...", Ron started, hesitating again, "...I see myself as Head Boy and Quidditch captain, holding the Quidditch cup while I shake hands with Dumbledore". He carefully didn't mention that Dumbledore wasn't the only person standing with him in the reflection, a fact that he had kept to himself ever since Harry had brought him back to the mirror four months ago. Hermione seemed to accept this, but Harry was still looking at him a little quizzically, perhaps he had guessed that Ron was hiding something after all, Ron thought.

He was brought out of his thoughts suddenly by a laugh, a distinctly female laugh. "What?", he asked a little indignantly, "You said you weren't going to do that!" "Well...", Hermione said, managing to stop laughing but still smiling a little, "...it's just, Quidditch captain I can understand and everything, but Head Boy? I never knew you had it in you Ron!" "Ha ha", Ron said sarcastically, though he too began to smile, "just remember 'Mione, you know me well, but you still don't know everything about me - I can still surprise you sometimes!" "Ron", Hermione said, still smiling, perhaps a little wickedly now, "you never cease to surprise me!"

Inwardly Harry groaned, the subtext between Ron and Hermione had been getting thinner and thinner these last few years, but they still hadn't managed to actually come out and admit that there may be more to their teasing than either of them let on. They may have managed to fool each other, but Harry knew them both too well, and they hadn't fooled him for a second.

"Hermione", he said at last, before another mock war could break out between the two of them, "if you're going to look you better do it soon, we need to get back". "Okay", she said, gesturing to Ron to get out of the way so she could look into the mirror properly. For a few seconds the mirror seemed to cloud over and Hermione thought something had gone wrong, but then the image started to clear. At first she couldn't tell what she was looking at, because rather than seeing her own face looking back at her, she was looking at someone else's back. Eventually, the image came into focus enough for her to realise that she was watching herself (as she saw her own hands coming up to caress this stranger's neck) kissing someone.

She was more than a little surprised, but managed to conceal this from the boys as she peered more closely into the mirror. Having a sudden idea she turned so that she was standing sideways in front of the mirror, and as she had expected her reflection did the same so she now caught her first glimpse of the face of the boy she was kissing. To say that she was shocked would have been the understatement of the year. Of all the people in the world, she thought, why was the mirror showing her kissing _him_? Did it mean then, that she really---

She didn't have time to finish the thought as Ron's voice broke through asking her what she saw. For one of the few times in her life she stuttered a little as she tried to think up a convincing lie quickly enough, "I...I uh, see myself as - well I look older than I am now anyway. I'm...shaking hands with Mr Fudge - I'm the new minister for magic!" That at least sounded vaguely in character, though while Ron (obviously believing her) muttered something under his breath about how boring her dreams were, Harry didn't look quite so convinced.

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Chapter Five

In fact, to say Harry wasn't convinced was something of an understatement. He watched Hermione closely for the next few days, while making sure that she didn't notice what he was doing. He still couldn't claim to know everything about her, but after six years at school together, he did know her pretty well. Well enough anyway, for him to notice that something wasn't quite right with her. She had been...just different somehow for the last few months. Nothing major, just unusual looks on her face, or some of the things she said - or didn't say as the case may be. 

It was enough for him to be worried anyway. Hermione was one of his best friends, and the closest thing that he had to a sister - he cared for her very much. He had considered just going up to her and seeing if she would tell him what was bothering her, but decided that maybe the direct approach wasn't the best idea in this case. He hadn't said anything to Ron about it. If his theory was right, then Ron probably wouldn't be the best person to be talking about this with, but even Ron seemed to have noticed something. Harry caught him watching at her in the library when she didn't know that he was looking, and looking concerned when she was late meeting them after a lesson.

He figured that it had something to do with the mirror of erised - though what he wasn't quite sure. Since that one night that she had gone with them, Hermione hadn't gone back to the mirror, neither asking them about it, or saying she would go when they asked her to. Harry even asked Ginny, as vaguely as he could, to see if she knew anything, but apparently this was something Hermione was intent on keeping to herself.

He decided finally, that the best thing to do would be to talk to her himself, he just had to find the right moment. Looking back on it later, he realised that the plan he put into action wasn't one of his greater ideas, but it did work - after a fashion anyway.

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Chapter Six

One night, about a week after they had all gone to the mirror together, Harry and Ron had said their goodbyes to Hermione and Ginny and gone their separate ways to their dormitories. Harry pulled the hangings around his bed shut and feigned sleep, slowly biding his time until he was sure that Seamus, Neville, Dean and even Ron were fast asleep. It was about two hours before he could safely make a move, and then he crept out of bed, as silently as possible, grabbing the invisibility cloak and heading towards the door.

Once in the hallway, he set out towards the girls' dormitories. He knew which was Hermione's room because he and Ron had walked her there and met up with her there plenty of times over the course of their time at Hogwarts. He got to the door and opened it as quietly as he could, closing it quickly behind him once he was in the room, as instead of the silence he expected, he heard voices. He moved forward slowly, and found to his surprise, that Hermione, Lavender and Parvati were all still awake, sitting up on their beds, talking.

"There's nothing to tell", Hermione was saying as Harry got within hearing distance of them. "Really!", Parvati said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Yeah come on Hermione", Lavender prompted, "we're not blind - we know there's something going on". Harry smiled in spite of himself, apparently he and Ron weren't the only ones to notice the change in Hermione's behaviour. Trying to make the gesture as casual as possible, Parvati leaned over to her bedside table and retrieved her wand, making her lamp burn a little brighter and then sitting back, wand still in hand.

"Lavender and me may not be the top of our year like _some_ people", she said pointedly, though not unkindly, "but I'm pretty sure at least one of us could manage a decent truth spell---". "Alright, alright!", Hermione said, cutting them off before they could actually do anything. Actually telling the two of them how she was feeling at the moment was not something she particularly wanted to do, but it would be much worse if they used a truth spell - at least this way she could give them the edited highlights of the true story, rather than the whole thing. Lavender giggled excitedly and jumped onto Parvati's bed next to her, as Parvati's bed was the closest to Hermione's own, her eyes lighting up with the prospect of hearing some juicy gossip.

Harry had to stifle a laugh at Lavender's behaviour, but he knew he would be in serious trouble if they caught him now so he kept one hand clamped firmly over his mouth, and moved round a little so he could see Hermione's face clearly as she talked. "I...", Hermione started, still looking extremely reluctant to be saying any of this, but seeing she couldn't get out of it either, "...last week I found out that Harry and Ron had found the mirror of erised again". She groaned inwardly when she realised that neither of them knew what the mirror was, so she started again.

"It's an enchanted mirror", she explained, "it shows whoever stands in front of it, their innermost desires". Lavender looked like she was about to say something, but Parvati interrupted her, "But why were Harry and Ron looking for it in the first place?" Hermione hesitated again, but she did reply at last, "Harry...", she trailed off, knowing that this was a big confidence of Harry's that she was about to betray. Under the cloak, Harry listened more attentively than ever, not entirely pleased about what Hermione was going to have to say. 

"He sees his parents", Hermione said quietly, before she looked back up at the two girls facing her, "that's why Harry wanted to find the mirror - when he stands in front of it, he sees himself with his parents". Harry had expected some kind of comment from the girls about that, but they both just looked a little shocked and surprisingly sympathetic. "You have to promise never to say anything about that to Harry or anyone else - ever", Hermione said, "I was one of only three people who knew about it, and I know it's not something Harry would want broadcast around the school - and before you ask - I'm not telling you where the mirror is either".

Harry felt extremely proud of Hermione when he heard that - that really was a display of loyalty. He wasn't entirely surprised to hear Lavender and Parvati affirming their agreement to Hermione's terms without any argument whatsoever, but he was surprised by how sincere they seemed to be, and he realised that this time, they really would keep this a secret. "So", Parvati said after a while, "that's why Harry went looking for the mirror...but once you knew about it, you went too didn't you?" It was phrased as a question, but it seemed fairly obvious to everyone in the room what the answer was.


	4. Chapter four

****

The mirror of erised

By Sinful Starlet

Rating: PG probably - maybe PG-13 but that's pushing it.

Disclaimer: Not JK Rowling (though I wish I was) so clearly not mine.

Summary: Some time during their later school career, Harry and his friends come across the mirror of erised again with some surprising results!

Blurb: Part four. Hermione reveals a few home truths about what she saw in the mirror - but how will her confidantes react to what she has to say? 

Oh yeah, just wanted to say a personal thank you to Lacey Evans for reviewing every chapter I've put up so far - mucho gracias! Thanks to my other reviewers too - you are very much appreciated! *SS*

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Chapter Seven

"I did", Hermione said, hanging her head again, prompting more concern from Harry - what was she so afraid to say? "And what did you see?", Lavender asked, unable to stop herself. "I...well I told Harry and Ron that I saw myself becoming the next minister for magic", Hermione replied. "But that wasn't what you really saw?", Parvati cut in again, urging her to go on. Again, Harry pricked up his ears, anxious to hear what Hermione was about to say.

"No", she said at last, "that wasn't what I saw at all". "I couldn't tell what I was seeing at first", she went on, still avoiding their eyes, "but eventually, I realised that what I was seeing was me...me kissing someone". By the sound of it, Lavender and Parvati hadn't been expecting that answer any more than Harry, who almost lost his grip on the cloak in his surprise. This really was news to the two girls though. Both of them had had several 'relationships' while they were at Hogwarts - though Hermione didn't exactly approve - they never lasted long, and didn't really seem to mean all that much to them.

In contrast, Hermione had never had so much as one relationship in her six years at Hogwarts - the same was also true of Harry and Ron, as they all seemed more interested in their friendship with each other than anything else. Therefore, any news of Hermione kissing someone, even if it was only as part of the mirror's reflection was big news to Lavender and Parvati, who seemed even more interested than before. "So come on then", Lavender pushed, determined not to let Hermione stop there, "who was it?"

Hermione seemed to visibly blanch at this question though, and for a few seconds anyway, flatly refused to give them a name, though she did answer a vehement 'NO!' to several of their more ridiculous suggestions. "Ok, forget his name then!", Parvati said, adding 'at least for now' under her breath so that only Lavender and Harry heard that part, "Whoever he is - what's the big problem? I mean, he's not a Slytherin is he? I can't exactly see you going 'ga ga' for Malfoy or one of his crowd!" "No!", Hermione said, managing a laugh at that, "And I don't care what you say Lavender - Draco Malfoy is not, and never will be...", she paused then went on imitating Lavender's most excitable voice, "_cute_!"

A look of alarm crossed Harry's face at those words - Lavender really thought---? The girl in question interrupted at that point though, as both Parvati and Hermione were laughing by then. "_All I said was_", she began a little huffily, "that he didn't look _too_ bad in his Quidditch robes!" "No, well I don't mind a boy in Quidditch robes myself", Parvati said, still smiling, though she had managed to stop laughing by now, "but Draco Malfoy wouldn't exactly be the top of _my_ list!" Lavender cut in, before any further argument could start, "_Anyway_ - aren't we getting off the subject here - weren't we supposed to be talking about _Hermione's_ crush?"

"He's not my 'crush'!", Hermione said, a little too indignantly Harry thought. "Whatever you say", Lavender replied, "but you did see yourself kissing him in a mirror that only shows you your 'innermost desires', didn't you?" She said the last part mimicking Hermione's words from earlier, and Hermione began to really regret telling them that much detail about the mirror and what it did. "Okay, so he's not in Slytherin", Parvati said, changing the subject, "Ravenclaw?" "No!", Hermione said again, before she sighed a little, seeming to give up at last, "It's just....complicated, alright? He's...", she trailed off again, really reluctant to let these last few words slip, "...he's one of my best friends".

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Chapter Eight

If nothing else had, then that definitely got Harry's attention. It was about as close as he had got so far to really confirming his theory, but if he was wrong......... Lavender and Parvati also perked up, hearing that particular piece of information. "Well that narrows it down, doesn't it?", Lavender said, somewhat triumphantly, "So it's either Harry Potter, or Ron Weasley!" Hermione didn't seem to hear that, or she just ignored it, in either case, she carried on regardless of what Lavender had just said.

"I don't really understand it", she said, the look on her face not exactly sad, more confused, "I mean I've never thought of him....like that, before. The three of us have been friends since the first year, and now?" "You can't get the image out of your head?", Parvati guessed, rather astutely - it was confirmed anyway when Hermione nodded sadly. "I really tried not to think about it, but then he's always there, and it's just a constant reminder of what I saw". 

"The images are a lot clearer at night", she went on, "when everyone else has gone away and it's just me lying here trying to get to sleep.........", she hesitated, her eyes closed as the mirror's vision flashed through her mind again, ".........and I can remember everything about it so clearly - the way it looked, the way it made _me_ look, I mean, the mirror version of me anyway, even the way it made me _feel_...". She trailed off again, and looked down at her hands again. 

Harry felt really guilty by now. He started to think that he shouldn't have come. After all was said and done, Hermione was one of his best friends, and here he was, spying on her, listening to her talking about things that were really personal to her - things she deliberately hadn't talked to him and Ron about. He turned and was about to leave when he heard Parvati's voice again, much more gentle than it had been before, "Hermione? Who was it?"

As much as he wanted to, he couldn't leave now, he had to know the truth. He got a real sinking feeling in his stomach every extra second that Hermione hesitated, wanting it not to be his name that she said. He did love her, but not that way, and he hated to think what it would do to their friendship if he found out that she did have feelings for him that he couldn't return. Feelings that in any case, he didn't really understand, but the only other girl who'd been able to make him feel the way he had about Cho, was not Hermione. Though, he thought with a kind of tragic irony, that it would probably be a lot less dangerous to his friendship with Ron if it was. He was brought out of his reverie fairly sharply though, when he heard Hermione's voice again, "It was...it was Ron".

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Chapter Nine

Of all the reactions that Hermione might have been expecting when she revealed that particular home truth - laughter was not one of them. Both Lavender and Parvati seemed to find something immensely funny and doubled up as soon as she had said it. Harry's reaction was a little less extreme, though he had to admit that he was relieved to find out that she thought of him as nothing more than a friend. Of course his one and only theory, until that night anyway, about what was wrong with Hermione had been that she had feelings for Ron - it certainly explained her over-reaction to him talking to Katie outside the library the week before. 

He also couldn't help smiling when he saw the two girls laughing, though he stopped when he saw that Hermione actually looked quite hurt. "I'm serious!", she said, a mixture of upset and indignant. "We know!", Parvati said, being the first to calm down, "Sorry Hermione, it's just that we've been waiting for you to admit to that for about a year and a half!" If that surprised Harry it was nothing to the look on Hermione's face. "What do you mean?", she asked. "Well it was fairly obvious you were going to fall for one of them", Lavender said, as if she were explaining some fundamental law to be obeyed, "it just took us a while to realise that it was going to be Ron and not Harry".

"But", Hermione started again, not looking any less confused, "if I didn't know, how could you?" "We have been going to school together for the last six years Hermione!", Parvati said, a trace of the comical in her voice, "And sharing a room the whole time!" "We might not know you as well as Harry and Ron", she went on more seriously, "but we do know you pretty well - I'm just amazed it took you this long to notice him!" "What?", Hermione asked again. "Well he's fairly easy on the eye!", Lavender said. Harry stopped smiling.

"When he's wearing his Quidditch robes anyway!", Lavender went on before Hermione could interrupt, "I mean Harry's great, he's really sweet and ridiculously protective of you...", she paused as Hermione blushed and Harry managed a smile again, "but you stand the two of them side by side when they're in their Quidditch uniforms and Ron'd get my vote every time!" "Well that's not exactly the way I would have put it", Parvati cut in, attempting to look disapprovingly at Lavender, but not really succeeding, "although all those hours of practicing haven't exactly done his figure any harm!"

Hermione blushed again, though she at least attempted to hide it while she reached for the glass of water by her bed. Harry was becoming a little indignant, hearing the two girls talk about him and Ron the way they were doing, but he reasoned, he wasn't looking to build a future with either of them, so it didn't really matter what they thought. He was a little put out that Hermione seemed to agree, but he knew he still had at least one person on his side, and he smiled to himself with the thought of her.

"So what are you going to do?", Parvati asked after a while. "I have no idea", Hermione replied, not missing the smile that passed between the two girls who were so amused by the idea that for once, the great Hermione Granger didn't know what to do. "I'll figure something out eventually", Hermione went on, "I just need some time to think about what I want from him - if anything - and there's Harry to think about too". Harry smiled again, although he was more than a little concerned - no matter what else was going on, she was still his friend, unwilling to let anything, even her own happiness, upset that.

"Just please don't say anything", she said, her voice taking on a pleading tone. "Of course", Parvati said immediately, shooting Lavender a harsh look as Lavender looked like she was about to protest. "We both promise", she said again firmly, until Lavender too nodded, "we won't tell a soul". This seemed to be the end of the conversation for the moment, with all the girls agreeing it was time to get to sleep. Lavender went back to her own bed and all three put out the lanterns by their beds. Harry waited until he was sure that they were all asleep and then edged out of the room, closing the door as silently as he could.

His mind was reeling as he made his way back to his own room, trying to think what to do about what he had heard that night. He couldn't just ignore what he had heard, but he couldn't just tell Ron either. It wasn't until he got back into his own bed, seeing with satisfaction that he had managed to get in and out of the room without waking any of the other boys, that he realised what he had to do. She would quite probably be more angry with him than she had ever been before, but there was nothing else he could do - he had to tell Hermione that he had heard what she had said to Lavender and Parvati.


	5. Chapter five

****

The mirror of erised

By Sinful Starlet

Rating: PG probably - maybe PG-13 but that's pushing it.

Disclaimer: Not JK Rowling (though I wish I was) so clearly not mine.

Summary: Some time during their later school career, Harry and his friends come across the mirror of erised again with some surprising results!

Blurb: Part five. Harry finally confronts Hermione about what she saw in the mirror, but how will she react, and what will she do now? *SS* 

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Chapter Ten

He got up the next morning feeling nothing if not seriously apprehensive. Ron seemed to notice that he was acting a little strangely, but he brushed off his concerns and went back to focussing on the job in hand. He had to somehow get Hermione on her own, as soon as possible he thought, sure that it would be worse the longer he left it. He had been running through ways of telling her all night, dismissing each new idea almost as soon as he had thought of it. They all sounded ridiculous anyway - 'Dobby told me', 'Peeves was spying on you and he blurted it out' - in the end he decided the most difficult way was probably the best. He would just have to tell her the truth.

In the end, he got his opportunity a lot earlier than he thought. He, Ron, Hermione and Ginny had spent most of the morning walking round the school grounds, taking advantage of their lack of homework and the continued good weather. They had visited Hagrid, while he attempted to feed the Giant Squid in the school lake. None of them asked what kind of meat Hagrid was throwing out to the waving tentacles - none of them wanted to know anyway. Luckily, at that moment, Fred and George came over to them, asking if they wanted to come in for lunch. Ron and Ginny gratefully accepted, willing to go anywhere to get away from 'feeding time', but Hermione said she wasn't hungry yet and wanted to stay out for a bit longer. 

Harry immediately jumped in, offering to stay with her so they could go in to lunch together, later on. Ron also offered to stay, but Hermione laughed away his concern and told him to go, after his stomach gave a very audible rumble. Ginny rolled her eyes at Harry, but she too followed her brothers back towards the castle. Harry asked Hermione if she wanted to go for a bit more of a walk before they went in, and she seemed fairly pleased to be escaping from the squid too, so they both said their goodbyes to Hagrid and started walking back towards the castle around the outskirts of the Dark Forest.

They chatted away quite happily for a few minutes, saying the occasional 'hello' to friends of theirs that they ran into along the way, who were also taking advantage of the sunny weather. Hermione started talking about an arithmancy assignment she had to do, but stopped, laughing, when she saw the look on Harry's face. They walked on in a comfortable silence for a few more minutes, before Harry eventually plucked up the courage to tell her. "Um, Hermione?", he started, inwardly bracing himself for the imminent 'Hurricane Granger' that he was sure was about to hit, "There's something I need to talk to you about".

"Yes?", she said, stopping and turning to him, concern filling her face, "Harry, are you alright?" "I'm fine", Harry said, "it's actually you I was worried about". She waited for this to sink in, the question obviously surprised her, or so it seemed to Harry anyway. "Me?", she asked, attempting to sound casual, "I'm alright - I've got loads to do before the end-of-year exams, but I say that every year, don't I?" Harry smiled at that, but shook his head, "I wasn't talking about the exams 'Mione - I think this has something to do with the mirror".

He saw a definite flash of panic cross her face, but she obviously decided to try and brazen it out, "What do you mean?" "Something changed after you looked in that mirror", Harry said, turning more serious, "you saw something that you weren't expecting, so you made up a lie about you becoming the next minister for magic, because you thought was the sort of story that Ron and I would be likely to believe about you". Hermione definitely looked a little flustered now, but she still wouldn't come out and just admit it, "I don't know what you mean Harry - it took me a while to answer the two of you that night because I didn't recognise myself at first, I think I must have been about thirty in the reflection".

She chanced a look at him then, and the expression of scepticism on his face was all the answer she needed. She still didn't have a clue how to tell Harry that she had feelings for their best friend though, so instead she just looked down at her feet, and stayed silent for a moment. In the end, it was Harry who spoke first, though it took him more than a few minutes himself, to get the courage to speak. "Hermione?", he began again, though she didn't look up at him, "I...I know what you saw".

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Chapter Eleven

That certainly got her attention, her head whipped back up so she was looking him exactly in the eye. She didn't question him for a second - she could see the truth in his face - there really would have been no point. She just sighed and looked down again, her voice suddenly sounding very small, "How?" Harry hesitated, Hermione was already upset, he didn't particularly want to drop this bombshell too. "I...", he started, pausing to sit down on the ground and waiting for her to do likewise.

"I knew there was something wrong", he began again, "but I didn't know what it was, so last night I...", he trailed off again, already seeing the look of horror in Hermione's eyes. "I came to talk to you", he said, the words coming fast now, he couldn't risk stopping again 'til he was finished, guessing what her reaction would probably be, "I waited till everyone was asleep and then I sneaked out of my room, alone, and came over to yours". "I wore the invisibility cloak, just in case Lavender or Parvati was still awake, but when I got there, you were all still up and talking". 

"I was going to leave then, but I heard you mention the mirror so......I stayed, I'm sorry Hermione, but I just wanted to know what was wrong, so I stayed, and I heard it all". He trailed off then, waiting for the tirade he was sure would come - but it didn't. Hermione just nodded, drawing her knees up to her chest and resting her head on them. "I'm really sorry", Harry said again after Hermione had been quiet for about five minutes. "It's ok", she said at last, "I mean it's not the way I would have chosen for you to find out, but I suppose you had to know - I mean this does affect you too".

She managed a weak smile then, seeing the alarm on Harry's face, "I won't let you keep doing that", he said, sounding more firm than he'd meant to. "Doing what?", she asked, nervously. "Putting yourself and your feelings last", Harry said, resting a hand on her shoulder, "you could be on the verge of something really important for you here, and instead you're worrying about how _I'm_ going to react?" "Hermione, you're one of my two best friends in the world", he said quickly before she could interrupt, "all I want is for you to be happy - whatever that might mean".

"Thank you", she said, smiling and moving so she could lean her head on his shoulder. They sat comfortably for a few moments before either spoke again. Hermione was relieved to have the burden of her lie lifted from her - Harry, relieved because she wasn't angry with him and had completely forgiven him for basically spying on her. She sighed before she spoke, not moving from her position leaning against him, "I don't know what I'm going to do". "Well I think you know what you _have_ to do, at least eventually", Harry replied, "but how and when - that's completely up to you."

Hermione nodded, smiling gratefully, but she clearly wasn't entirely back to normal yet either, "I'm not even sure if telling him _is_ the right thing to do". Harry was about to object very strenuously to that, but Hermione beat him to it, "I mean, he's had six years to figure out how he feels about me, and he's never really shown me anything other than friendship". "Well", Harry said, not quite sure what to say exactly because Ron had never actually said anything to him about having an interest in Hermione, "he did take you to the ball last year".

"Come on Harry!", Hermione said, laughing a little now, "He asked me because he didn't want a repeat of what happened in our 4th year - and anyway, we all went together really - me, Ron, you and Ginny". She deliberately grouped the names that way, but Harry pretended not to notice her fairly unsubtle hint and dragged the conversation back round to Hermione's problem again, "You can't just ignore it though". "I know", Hermione said, sighing a little in exasperation this time, "but for all I know - Ron just doesn't see me that way - and I don't want to ruin our friendship".

"Well whatever you do decide to do is fine by me", Harry offered, "and I promise I won't say anything to him". Hermione nodded, pulling away from him to sit back, facing him. "Thank you, Harry", she said again, "the idea of you being hurt by...whatever, if anything, might happen between me and Ron was killing me". "Well you ought to have more faith in your friends!", Harry said teasingly, a wicked thought crossing his mind, "And you know, you could stick up for me once in a while!" "What do you mean?", Hermione asked, looking concerned. "Well it might be nice to have _one_ person say I look better than Ron in Quidditch robes!" She gasped in mock-horror then, swatting him playfully. "I think we both know there is at least _one_ person who would agree with that", she said, raising one eyebrow in a challenge. 

"Later, later!", Harry said, holding up his hands in a mock surrender, "Let's get your _love-life _sorted out first, then we can think about mine!" "Deal!", Hermione said, laughing and getting to her feet, "Come on, we better get in for lunch before Fred and George completely clean out the kitchens!" Harry also got to his feet, laughing at the seemingly bottomless stomachs of the Weasley twins. "You ready?", he asked, as they approached the Great Hall. "Lunch I can handle", Hermione replied, walking towards the doors, "it's what I have to do later that's worrying me!"


	6. Chapter six

****

The mirror of erised

By Sinful Starlet

Rating: PG probably - maybe PG-13 but that's pushing it.

Disclaimer: Not JK Rowling (though I wish I was) so clearly not mine.

Summary: Some time during their later school career, Harry and his friends come across the mirror of erised again with some surprising results!

Blurb: Part six. Almost done now, one more chapter after this one. Harry waits for Hermione to finally make her move, but it doesn't seem like she'll ever get round to it. So what will Harry do, and will Ron ever figure it out? *SS* 

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Chapter Twelve

Harry wasn't sure what exactly he'd been expecting from Hermione when they went into lunch that afternoon, but her acting completely normal hadn't been one of the things on his list. She was obviously feeling a lot better now that she knew that he knew and was okay with it all. The weight of keeping it all to herself had really been getting to her, it had been so hard lying to her two best friends all week. Of course she still had to talk to Ron about it, but she wasn't exactly rushing to do that.

That said, that lunch was one of the most enjoyable of the whole week, things seemed almost completely back to normal, everyone laughing when George managed to sneak a canary cream into Ron's sandwich - everyone except Ron of course. He had shot Harry a questioning look when he had walked into the hall with Hermione, but Harry just shook his head and smiled. Ron nodded discretely and managed to divert the others' attention before they noticed what was going on between him and Harry.

Harry wondered a lot about his two friends that lunch time, looking at them as if for the first time, and trying to figure out all that had changed over the years. As strange as the idea might have been to him at first, he thought Ron and Hermione actually had the chance of being a really nice couple. Of course they fought more than any other two people Harry had ever known, but it had only ever been malicious once or twice in six years, which wasn't a bad track record considering. 

And Ron clearly cared about her, even if he would never publicly admit to it. Harry only had to cast his mind back to all the times Ron had rushed to Hermione's rescue over the years - trying to curse Malfoy for insulting her, the look on his face when he saw that she'd been petrified, even when he volunteered to help her with S.P.E.W. after he'd spent so much time making fun of her about it. Harry had had his suspicions for a while about Ron's feelings for Hermione, but Ron had never said anything to him about it. This was the one thing that worried Harry a little, Ron certainly wasn't going to make it easy for her to tell him. However he felt, he had never treated her any differently over the six years that they had been at school together. 

And he did seem to be fairly clueless about girls in general. Harry laughed at that, realising how it sounded in his head. Ron certainly knew they existed - Fleur De La Couer alone was proof of that - but he apparently never noticed when they were interested in him. It wasn't that Harry was jealous, he wasn't exactly lacking in attention himself, but he couldn't help noticing that Ron seemed to get far more smiles from the girls of Hogwarts when he walked down the corridors than Harry himself - especially since he had started playing Quidditch. 

He was so tempted whenever Ron teased him about the second years and their 'Harry Potter fan club', to tell him that there was also a 'Ron Weasley fan club', a small group of Gryffindor girls that came to every one of their Quidditch games. Being Seeker, Harry had plenty of time to sit high up on his broom, scouring the pitch and the crowds, and the same set of girls were there every time, cheering madly whenever Ron scored.

It was only when they were leaving the Great Hall after lunch that day that Harry remembered that he hadn't asked Hermione how she was planning to tell Ron - he knew her well enough to tell that she'd already decided that she would tell him eventually. She had that expression of concentration in her eyes that she usually reserved for thinking about arithmancy equations, but this time, it was clearly there because she was thinking about Ron. 

Ron, as predicted remained clueless throughout the lunch, not catching any of the looks Hermione kept chancing in his direction. Ginny seemed to notice something though and she shot a questioning look at Harry who just shook his head, making sure that none of the others weren't looking and mouthed that he would explain later. She nodded, smiling warmly back at him, one of the patented Weasley winks in her eyes.

Harry decided to let the matter go for the time being. Hermione clearly wasn't going to say anything with half the school around to over-hear. He figured that she was probably just waiting for a quiet moment when they could get some time to themselves, but the days went past, and still she said nothing. Harry tried to catch her on her own again several times, but it seemed everywhere she went this week she was flanked by Ginny or one of their other friends, so Harry never got the chance to ask her what she was doing.

He realised that it would take a lot for her to just tell Ron what had happened, but he didn't think it was the sort of thing that she should just put off indefinitely. He wrestled with the idea for a few more days, but decided if Hermione wasn't going to say anything on her own, he'd have to be a little more pro-active about it. She probably wouldn't be too pleased with him for a while, but he reasoned that if everything worked out then everybody would be happy, and it might even put Ron in enough of a good mood that he wouldn't kill Harry when he revealed another home truth that he'd been sitting on for the last few months.

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Chapter Thirteen

The Sunday night of that week, Harry and Ron were sitting playing chess in the Gryffindor common room while Hermione sat opposite them, curled up in an armchair with a book propped open on her lap. She was supposed to be reading it for a muggle studies lesson, but she had basically given up and was spending more time watching the chess games than she was looking down at the book which had been open at the same page for the last half hour.

She managed to sneak a look at Ron as he was contemplating a particularly difficult move and couldn't help the smile that crossed her face. He looked so...it was against everything in her character for Hermione to use the word '_cute_' but she couldn't really think of another that fit for the intense look of concentration that marked his usually so happy face. Harry badgered him again and again to make his move, all the while, noticing Hermione looking at Ron with some amusement on his part.

Finally Ron let out a triumphant whoop and moved one of his bishops into a checkmate. The bishop tore through Harry's king like butter, and Harry had to acknowledge yet another defeat at Ron's hands. No matter how hard he tried, which admittedly wasn't all that hard most of the time, Ron was never as traditionally 'academic' as Hermione or even Harry. He did however, have one saving grace in that respect - neither of them had yet managed to beat him at Wizard's Chess.

Ron was just reaching for his wand to set the pieces up for another game when Harry got to his feet, yawning loudly. Given that the common room had now emptied to such an extent that only the three of them remained he decided that tonight was as good a night as any to put his plan into action. "Actually Ron I think I'm just going to go up to bed - I'm pretty tired". From his position, Ron didn't see the look of horror that flashed across Hermione's eyes as she realised what Harry was trying to do, and she looked pleadingly at him, silently urging him not to go.

Ron looked up at the clock on the mantelpiece over the fire, frowning as he read the time, "Well it is getting quite late, maybe we should all go up". He stood too, and Hermione seemed perfectly happy to go through with this idea, but then she caught the look on Harry's face and realised that he was probably right. She had been putting this off for as long as possible, but she couldn't keep on doing that forever. So, however reluctant she was feeling, she nodded to Harry and called back to Ron, "Uh, Ron, if you don't mind there was something I wanted to talk to you about".

Ron turned round in surprise, "Yeah", he replied, sounding about as confused as he looked, "of course". He turned back round for a second to call Harry back too, but Hermione stopped him, "Um, just you, Ron - not Harry". If Ron had been confused before, it was nothing to what he was feeling, but Harry just nodded to them, saying his goodnights and climbing the stairs up to his room. Ron turned back to Hermione again who was now pacing the common room, fairly anxiously.

She stopped when she realised he was watching and gestured to the sofa, smiling awkwardly at him. Ron still didn't understand what was going on but he walked over to the sofa by the fire and sat down, crossing his legs underneath him and pulling a chocolate frog box out of his pocket. He saw Hermione raise a questioning eyebrow as he started to open it, "Well it's been a long time since dinner!", he said in mock indignation. 

She smiled, in spite of her nervousness, shaking her head, but she still didn't say anything. "Hmm, Dumbledore again!", Ron said, more to break the silence than anything else, holding up the card from the chocolate frog box. Hermione's smile remained, but she didn't laugh like she would have normally. "Come on 'Mione", Ron said, his voice more gentle than it had been before, well as gentle as it could be with half a mouthful of chocolate frog anyway, "whatever it is, you can tell me".

Hermione laughed internally at that, if only it really was that simple. And watching his tongue dart out to pick up the last remnant of the chocolate frog on his lips was extremely distracting. She went and sat next to him though, smoothing her skirt out a little more than necessary while she tried to think of what to say. She only came out of her momentary reverie when she felt a hand close over her own. Ron had laid his hand on top of hers, smiling at her with an expression she was sure he had intended to look helpful. Of course feeling his fingers entwining with hers was doing wonders for her concentration at that point in time, but she tried not to focus on that.

"What is it?", Ron asked, by now quite concerned about what she was going to tell him, so he decided to try a little humour to lighten the situation, "I'm sure it can't be that bad". That evidently hadn't been the best thing to say because Hermione ended up looking even more nervous than she had been before, and poor Ron had no idea what he had done to make her look like that. He was about to speak again when she interrupted, finally managing to think of somewhere to start, "It has to do with the mirror of erised".


	7. Chapter seven

****

The mirror of erised

By Sinful Starlet

Rating: PG probably - maybe PG-13 but that's pushing it.

Disclaimer: Not JK Rowling (though I wish I was) so clearly not mine.

Summary: Some time during their later school career, Harry and his friends come across the mirror of erised again with some surprising results!

Blurb: Part seven - final chapter. Hermione finally summons the courage to tell Ron the truth about the mirror, but how will he react, and where does that leave them now? 

Little personal note here too - thanks to all my reviewers so far - esp Ashley*CB! All feedback is very much appreciated and I hope you like the ending to this story. And if you do, I'm writing another one (_The Somnambulist Charm_) which should be up soon so I hope you like that one too! *SS* 

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Chapter Fourteen

That clearly wasn't what Ron had been expecting, and it took him a few seconds to realise what she had actually said. "The mirror?", he asked after a while, "But it was ages ago when we took you to see it - why didn't you say something before?" "I...", Hermione started, not really able to think of a good enough excuse, "...I saw something that I wasn't expecting, and it took me a while to figure out what it meant".

"So it didn't have anything to do with Fudge and being the new minister for magic then?", Ron asked rather pointlessly, even he could guess what she was going to say by now. "No", Hermione said, looking down at her hands, but since that meant looking down at his hand still holding hers she looked back up again, not needing that distraction right now. "I saw...", she started again, not looking down, but avoiding his gaze, "...I saw myself....kissing one of my best friends". If Hermione actually had looked up at that point, she might have let herself off the hook by seeing the look of complete disappointment on Ron's face. 

"After that", Hermione went on, still not looking at Ron, "I felt awkward being round the two of you, I had no idea what to say - to either of you, and I still didn't know how I really felt". "But it's not something you can just ignore?", Ron said, though as worked up as she was, Hermione didn't notice how much quieter Ron's voice had gone. It took her a long time to answer him this time, but at last she said, "No - I tried, I really did, but that vision...that _kiss_ - it's not something I can easily forget".

She chanced a look up at him then and he managed to cover his expression with a weak smile aimed to comfort her a little, but she could tell he was faking it, so she looked away again, her sigh barely audible. "I still don't really understand it, but I can't keep it to myself anymore, I...", she trailed off again, breathing deeply before she said, "...I had to tell you". "Of course", Ron said, trying to sound consoling, though in fact he had completely missed the point, not for the first time either.

"I...", he started, now being the one to sound unsure and nervous himself, "...I don't suppose it would help if I talked to him would it?" This basically stumped Hermione, and she couldn't help looking up then, catching his gaze in her own, "Talked to who?" "Harry", Ron said, trying to keep the resentment and dejection out of his voice, "y'know, I could ask him how he feels, honestly I don't know what to tell you because I don't want you to get hurt and there's...well there's Cho, but I think he's given up on her, and I'm sure he'll be really happy when he finds out about how you feel...".

He stopped when he saw her expression change - what was that? Amusement? He was more confused than ever, and Hermione couldn't help but laugh when she saw the frown furrowing his face. "Ron", she said gently, holding his hand a little tighter, "there's a reason I asked to talk to you tonight and not Harry". She waited then, seeing if he would make the connection. Apparently not. He looked as mystified as ever, so she decided she would actually have to spell it out for him. "Ron", she said again, "I have two best friends....and I wasn't talking about Harry".

__

Chapter Fifteen

To say that he was shocked would have been about the understatement of the year, but the realisation of what she was saying eventually struck him. There was a heavy pause for several seconds while he waited for her to say that this had all been a joke, but it never came. The idea that she was completely serious, and still waiting for any kind of response suddenly hit home, but for one of the few times in his life - he had absolutely no idea what to say.

Actually, that wasn't entirely accurate, there were about a hundred things he wanted to say, but with the chaos his mind was in at that moment, he was completely tongue-tied. He eventually managed to stutter out, "M-me?", berating himself for the nervous stammer that seemed to have infected his voice. Hermione didn't give any kind of verbal response. She was still reeling from the effect of what she had just admitted to, and the fact that she could not figure out Ron's reaction was making her even more uncertain than ever, so all she managed was a nod.

Ron kept running over and over what she had said, but it still seemed incredible to him, so much so that he couldn't help saying, "But--but that can't be right, I mean we fight all the time, how could you possibly feel---". He stopped fairly quickly when he realised that wasn't the most intelligent thing to say, but Hermione had already started speaking before he could apologise. "I couldn't figure it out myself for ages, but then it finally made sense". She looked away from him before she said her next few words, "The mirror was enchanted to show a person only their innermost dreams and desires......and that's exactly what it showed me". 

She carried on quickly before Ron could interrupt and distract her, because she was still more than a little embarrassed to be confessing to all of this, "It showed me you seeing me as something other than Hermione the prefect; something other than a bookworm, perpetually studying in the library; something other than just a best friend that you constantly argue with". "It showed me you seeing me as just a girl - and that was..._is_ the one thing I want more than anything else".

Ron was stunned by that admission, he certainly had never thought that Hermione would be the one person to say something like that to him. Before he even realised what he was doing, he let go of her hand and brushed his fingers through his hair nervously. It took him a few seconds to even realise that this was what he was doing, and that was all the time it took for Hermione to get the wrong impression. All she saw was that she had just poured her heart out to him, and he had let go of her hand, withdrawing any physical contact between them.

She wasn't sure what she had expected from him once she had told him, but just to be dismissed the way she thought she was being dismissed right now, was more than she could take. She got to her feet, determined to get away from him before her eyes filled with tears, and walked quickly towards the staircase up to her dormitory. She was only two steps from the stairs themselves when she felt a hand on her wrist pulling her back. She spun round to tell him to let her go, but she didn't even manage to say a single word before she found his lips pressed against hers.

Ron had apparently decided that words weren't getting them very far, and as shocked as he had been when Hermione had told him how she felt, his reflexes finally kicked in as he saw her getting up to leave. In an instant he was there beside her, pulling her to him and he was kissing her. He, Ron Weasley, was actually kissing Hermione Granger, the one girl he had ever really cared about, and then that was all the rational thought he could handle because he realised she was kissing him back. 

They were so close together he could feel the tears on her cheeks rubbing off onto his face, and it was that that made him reluctantly break off the kiss. He pulled away only far enough so that he could speak, resting his forehead against hers as he wiped her tears away with his thumbs. Only now it came to it, he didn't know what to say, and when he finally did think of something both he and Hermione started speaking at the same time. They laughed a little awkwardly and he gestured for her to speak first.

"I was going to say", Hermione started, stopping to kiss his thumb as it neared her mouth, "if I'd have known that that was the reaction I was going to get - I would have told you ages ago!" He laughed, making Hermione smile even more than she already was, "What about you?", she asked, "What were you going to say?" "Well", Ron said, hesitating for only a second to create a wicked enough an expression, "I was just going to say maybe we finally found something I am good at!" "Ron", Hermione said, doing her best to look superior, "you're good at lots of things...", she hesitated, Ron wasn't the only one who knew how to work suspense, "...but this", she paused again, edging closer and closer to his lips, "is definitely one of them!" 

"Glad you approve!", Ron said, taking the bait perfectly willingly and kissing her again. This time they were both a little more ready, and the kiss was longer and much deeper than before. Long enough anyway for them both to be more than a little flushed by the end of it. "Mmm", Hermione said, pulling back again, licking her lips, trying to work out exactly what the sweet taste in her mouth was. It took a second for Ron to realise what she was doing before an identical smile crossed both their faces, "Chocolate frogs!"

THE END


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